


Roomate From Hell

by AriadnesThread



Category: The Black Tapes Podcast
Genre: F/M, Gen, One-Sided Attraction, Unrequited Crush
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-21
Updated: 2020-07-21
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:42:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,278
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25427107
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AriadnesThread/pseuds/AriadnesThread
Summary: Simon Reese was sitting knee to knee with her. His eyes, the same eyes that had unsettled her the first time they met, were fixed on her face.'Simon?’ she choked.Simon's eyes didn’t leave her as he reached out and knocked once on the coffee table. Then his face split into a grin. It was a nice, normal smile but it looked wrong on his face. His gaze was as direct as ever.'Just kidding,’ he said.
Relationships: Alex Reagan/Simon Reese
Kudos: 5





	Roomate From Hell

**Author's Note:**

> This could very easily be listed as a gen-fic but Simon in the show has a very strange dynamic with Alex, which I'd always interpreted as him having a slight crush on her.

The less Alex slept, the more her dreams seemed to bleed into her waking life. The world seemed blurry, concealing jagged edges. She was tired. So tired she felt as though her body weighed twice as much, although her clothes were hanging off her. 

She dumped her bag onto the counter and headed straight for the bedroom, too hungry to sleep but too tired to eat, and kicked her shoes off. Ever since her conversation with Simon she’d felt oddly comforted. So what if there was an eighteen year old confessed murderer and probable psychic lurking in the shadows of her bedroom? At least it wasn’t a ten foot tall shadow being, or a girl with someone else’s face sewn on upside down, or whatever the latest thing was. Alex knew she should be scared but in her sleep deprived state she was losing track of whatever it was she was supposed to be afraid of. 

‘If you’re in here, Simon,’ she said, tugging her sweater and t-shirt over her head and throwing them into the corner in a ball. ‘I hope you’ve got your eyes closed.’

Knock.

Alex yelped and grabbed the t-shirt she slept in, covering her chest. 

‘Okay,’ she said, aloud. ‘Okay. It’s just the pipes.’

Knock. Knock.

Alex whimpered before she could stop herself and then forced herself to stand up straight. If she was going to confront a demon in her bedroom in her bra and jeans then she was going to do it with her head held high. 

‘...Simon?’

Knock.

‘Are you… what? What is happening?’

The silence stretched, patiently. 

‘Can you… how do I know you’re not just… pipes or… or next door’s headboard or something?’

Something knocked “Shave and a Haircut, Two Bits”. Alex sank her head into her free hand. 

‘Are you fucking kidding me?’ she mumbled. 

Knock. Knock.

Alex felt as though she was balanced on her tiptoes on the edge of some chasm, where one wrong step would send her tumbling down so far she’d die before she hit the bottom. 

‘That’s cute,’ she said. ‘I’m putting a shirt on. Don’t look.’

Knock.

Five minutes later, Alex was curled on her couch, feet under her, a throw wrapped around her shoulders. She’d taken her bra off under her shirt, dug out a pair of pajama pants and changed into them under the covers. She didn’t think Simon would *actually* take time out from murdering monks or starting -stopping?- the apocalypse or whatever it was he was doing now to watch her get changed. And it wasn’t like she had anything he couldn’t find in any women’s locker room. But still. Simon was technically a teenage boy and she was damned if she was going to give him a show. 

‘So…’ she said. ‘What are you doing in my apartment?’

The silence stretched. 

‘Oh right. You can’t tell me.’

Knock. 

‘Simon,’ Alex said. ‘I’m exhausted. I am not going to sit here and ask yes and no questions all night. Whatever you want to say, just say it.’

Silence. 

‘Oh forget it,’ Alex muttered, slipping down a little further. She’d get up and go to bed in a moment. She just needed to rest. 

She awoke in the dark. The room sounded safe: the faint swoosh of traffic on wet asphalt from the road outside, the faint electric hum of the oven, her own breathing. It took her a while to realise what was missing. She wasn't tired. And there was something else. She wasn't alone. 

Simon Reese was sitting knee to knee with her. His eyes, the same eyes that had unsettled her the first time they met, were fixed on her face.

'Simon?’ she choked. 

Simon's eyes didn’t leave her as he reached out and knocked once on the coffee table. Then his face split into a grin. It was a nice, normal smile but it looked wrong on his face. His gaze was as direct as ever.

'Just kidding,’ he said. 

'Simon,’ Alex said. 'Why are you in my apartment?’

Simon shrugged. 'You invited me?’

'I invited you? What did I say your name backwards at midnight?’

Simon was looking at her like she was a very keen, very stupid student. He didn't blink. 

'You said you wanted to talk.’ 

'Why were you knocking?’ 

'You asked a question. It'd be rude not to answer.’ 

‘...Right. And… why were you here?’

'Because I came here.’

'And why…. no, never mind.’ Alex pinched her brow. There was no way she was getting dragged into a circular argument. 'Just tell me what you're doing here please.’ 

'I’m watching over you. While you sleep.’ 

Alex’s mouth opened. Then it closed. Then it opened again. 

'I’m sorry? What?’

She hadn't thought Simon's gaze could get any more intense. She felt pinned in place. 

'Haven’t you been sleeping better?’ he asked. 'No shadows on the wall. No more nightmares. No more chanting on your sleep tapes.’ 

That was too much for Alex to take in. She broke it down into manageable chunks.

'How do you know about my nightmares?’

'You talk in your sleep.’

'So… you’ve been standing at the foot of my bed like some kind of… guardian angel?’ 

Simon snorted. He looked, for just a moment, like a normal teenage boy. 

Alex smiled wryly, imagining him with wings and a halo. ‘One to watch and one to pray and two to bear my soul away?’ 

Simon recoiled physically, as though he’d been thrown backwards by an unseen force. His back slammed against the arm of his couch and there was a crack as his head hit a lamp and knocked it to the floor. 

'Simon!’ Alex grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him upright, realising with a jolt that he felt normal, not like tentacles or electricity or something. 

'I told you,’ he rasped. 'Praying hurts my head.’

'It’s just a nursery rhyme,’ she protested, then stopped because the pain on his face was real. 'I’m sorry. I won't do it again.’ 

Simon rubbed the back of his head and winced. His hair was growing out shaggy, she noticed. 

'Don’t,’ he said. 

'So,’ Alex tried to lighten the mood. 'If a demon shows up I recite Mary has a Little Lamb three times and throw it through the wall?’ 

Simon raised an eyebrow. 'No.’

Alex unfolded herself, stood and crossed to the freezer. She didn't have any ice but there was a bag of frozen oven chips, which she wrapped in a clean tea towel. 

'Here,’ she said, presenting it to Simon. 'For your head.’

Simon just stared. First at her, then at the homemade icepack, then back at her. For a moment, Alex thought she'd done something wrong. But then he smiled. 

'This is what I like about you, Alex,’ he said. 'It's like you don't know what fear is.’

Alex smiled but it felt wrong on her face. 

'I can't even remember the last time I wasn't afraid.’

'You don't act like it,’ Simon told her, quite seriously. 'You should sleep now.’ 

Alex opened her mouth to tell him she was not tired but instead she heard a shrill, insistent ringing. 

The sky outside her window was light and she was curled on the couch, her leg cramped from being curled underneath her. Simon was nowhere to be seen. It was just a dream, she told herself. A weird, disturbing dream. The words sounded hollow in her head and she didn't dare voice them out loud in case Simon answered. 

It was almost a relief to stand up and feel her legs tangle in her comforter. Whoever had been here, had covered her with a blanket.


End file.
